Today I spoke in a debate on liver disease and cancer to call for Government to finally address the avoidable deaths that this causes every year.



The North East is at the sharp national crisis.

We cannot afford for this to continue.

Click on the picture above, or use the link below to hear my speech.

https://www.veed.io/view/a647a830-2b41-4e37-871d-8153a2769e0d?panel=share

ECHO COLUMN: Local elections 2024 - voting for the first North East Mayor and an opportunity for change.



In the midst of a Conservative-inflicted cost-of-living crisis, housing stock shortage and the North East experiencing the worst child poverty levels in the country, voters will be going to the polls on the 2nd of May.

In Sunderland, as well as voting for local councillors and a new Police and Crime Commissioner, this will be the first election of the new North East Mayor, a role introduced as part of a new devolution deal agreed in January 2023.  As it was a Labour Government that first championed devolution, I am pleased to see the North East finally getting the voice and control that we deserve.

As our community is so often disregarded by central government, it is vital that we elect representatives who have strong links with the communities they represent and who will fight for our public services, our funding and our future.

The new Mayor will be able to use devolved powers to make decisions in the areas of transport, skills, planning, and economic development, and will represent the two million people in the local authority areas of County Durham, Gateshead, Newcastle, Northumberland, North Tyneside, South Tyneside and Sunderland.

As a figurehead for the North East, the Mayor will be responsible for representing and championing our entire region, tasked with lobbying the Government to ensure support for our communities, and will oversee a budget of over £6bn worth of already confirmed Government investment.

This is why we must choose a Mayor who understands the priorities of those living in the North East and who will be able to provide an alternative to the Tories’ lip service to “levelling up”, by securing the much-needed investment and opportunity we deserve.

Labour’s candidate, Kim McGuinness, who is currently Northumbria’s Police and Crime Commissioner, has not only committed to creating infrastructure for opportunity across the North East, and to working alongside businesses to create more well-paid, local jobs, but has, at the core of her policies, a commitment to reducing the rampant child poverty currently plaguing the North East.  In fact, she believes the success of the Mayor should be measured on their success in reducing poverty for our region’s children.

Kim also has a brilliant plan for local transport, pledging to take buses back under public control and to re-open the Leamside Line helping to bring the Metro to Washington, a cause I have long fought for.

As Labour continue to surge ahead in the polls for the imminent general election, it looks increasingly likely that by next year we could have a Labour Government.  Our region needs strong links with central government, and Kim McGuinness as a Labour Mayor in the North East would be best placed to provide this.

The potential that a Labour Mayor with a Labour Government would unleash, is an opportunity that we cannot afford to miss.  We've seen the devastation that the Tories have caused. We must not let that continue and we can stop this.  Vote Labour on May 2nd.

Link to article in the Sunderland Echo >

Link to Kim McGuinness - Labour Mayoral candidate website, 2024 >

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Link to Sunderland Echo website >

At today’s Westminster Hall debate on Food Waste and Food Redistribution, I highlighted how tackling food waste is key to ending food insecurity and creating a sustainable food system.



Thank you to Company Shop for all the fantastic redistribution work you do in Washington, and across the UK.

Video - Food Waste and Food Distribution - Westminster Hall debate >
https://www.veed.io/view/3d6806ee-47e9-4e2e-8777-881e0b5a5f2f?panel=share

Read Sharon's contribution here >

Hansard

9.57am

Mrs Sharon Hodgson (Washington and Sunderland West) (Lab)

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Vaz. I thank the hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent Central (Jo Gideon) for securing this important debate.

Food redistribution services are fighting on the frontline of the food waste and climate crisis and must be supported. More than a third of all food in the UK is wasted, which is an absolutely shocking statistic. That waste contributes up to 10% of all greenhouse gas emissions and costs the UK economy over £20 billion a year, which is more than the entire aviation sector. There is always lots of public debate about the environmental impacts of aviation, but maybe it is time to shed more light on how we can support food redistribution schemes, which will be foundational if we are to have a more environmentally sustainable future.

In my constituency, I have a wonderful example of success in the redistribution sector called Company Shop, which we have heard about already. The Company Shop Group is a food redistribution service that has been able to transform unwanted products into usable, saleable goods for the benefit of my community and many others in various locations across the country. It understands that the UK throws away at least 10 million tonnes of food every year, but, incredibly, 6 million tonnes of that waste is avoidable and has a retail value of over £17 billion. That is where the Company Shop Group can prevent wasted food and salvage value that would otherwise have literally gone in the bin by reselling the surplus food at a discounted price to its members.

The store in my constituency has saved my constituents nearly £7.5 million on their shopping bills, while saving 2,649 tonnes of food from being binned. Those numbers are astonishing and represent 6.3 million meals that would otherwise have gone to landfill, where they would have fed no one and contributed to preventable environmental damage.

Benefits from food redistribution services such as this are felt by more than just our planet; they are felt in our constituents’ pockets too. As we have seen over the last few years, the cost of food can rise very quickly and fall very slowly, and contribute to growing levels of food insecurity and financial hardship for working people. Food redistribution schemes can be incredibly useful in preventing food waste and ensuring that our food system is more affordable and sustainable. Although the sector has seen incredible success from various charities, there is also vital work by social enterprises and commercial organisations such as the Company Shop Group that we can celebrate.

As the chair of the all-party parliamentary group on school food, I hear from food procurement specialists, school food providers, schools and families alike of the dire consequences of food insecurity. It is one of the major challenges policymakers currently face, and the most vulnerable in our society are those who suffer the most. We need to support charities, businesses and organisations to put food redistribution at the centre of their operations, so that we can save our constituents money and preserve the planet for future generations.

That is why many of us cautiously welcome DEFRA’s recent announcement that it will reconsider its earlier decision to delay mandatory food waste reporting for large food businesses until 2026. Due to overwhelming support for the policy from environmentalists, food and nutrition campaigners, food redistribution specialists, the public and businesses alike, the appetite for mandatory food waste reporting is at an all-time high. It is a relatively light-touch and simple intervention, which could be hugely cost-effective, incentivising large food businesses to cut down on their waste, and incentivising redistribution by organisations such as the Company Shop Group.

The food redistribution system has the potential to be incredibly efficient, as long as we achieve the joined-up policymaking that stakeholders across the sector are calling for. Last month, over 30 companies within the food, retail and manufacturing sectors signed an open letter organised by the food redistribution app Too Good to Go. If anybody has not used that app yet, I can highly recommend it, especially in London, where you can access anything within a few metres of where you are; that is not so much the case in the north-east, although I do still manage to use it there.

The letter called on the Government to introduce mandatory food waste reporting as soon as possible. By reporting on food wastage, we support redistribution schemes and tackle the crisis of food waste that was, for too long, a hidden evil in our food system. We need to put food redistribution at the centre of how we think about our food system, and we need the policies to make this happen. Repealing DEFRA’s 2026 timeline and introducing mandatory food waste reporting as soon as possible should be a good place to start. I look forward to the Minister’s response.

Watch the full debate here >

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